The AASM and the SRS recently conducted a successful congressional briefing that was attended by numerous legislative staffers and co-hosted by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA). The briefing, titled Sleep for Health & Safety, was held on April 10. At the meeting, Rep. Honda spoke about the importance of supporting more funding for NIH and the need for more training for law officers to detect drowsy drivers.
Other presenters included AASM President-Elect Nathaniel Watson, MD, SRS President Janet Mullington, PhD, SRS President-Elect Alan Pack, PhD and SRS Past President Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD. Martin Walker, Chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Research Division, also provided the audience a presentation on driver fatigue research.
Following the briefing, Dr. Watson and AASM staff members conducted several one-on-one meetings with legislative staffers as part of our Seniors Sleep Campaign. This federal initiative would expand the Welcome to Medicare benefit to include a sleep apnea screening to identify individuals with a high pre-test probability of OSA. This would increase preventive sleep care for individuals entering the Medicare program.
